10 December 2009

Guilt marketing is a tried-and-tested tactic to affect consumer behaviour, and the opportunities to play on it are growing as it becomes the predominant emotion in modern lives. But is such a negative focus effective in the long term?

One of the brands that I have consistently admired over the years is Sky TV. My life without Sky Sports would be an unappealing prospect, but it is its consistently strong brand marketing and business model that is addictive to watch.

Growth in global ad spending will return. But it’s going to come uncomfortably slowly. That’s according to newly published forecasts by both WPP’s media agency network GroupM and Publicis Groupe’s ZenithOptimedia.

It is great to see the fast proliferation of new trading platforms that drive more accountable and efficient media buying, but also help the digital industry prise more ad spend away from less measurable media routes.

It is not enough to just analyse customer data more efficiently (Marketers make intelligence choices, MW 26 November). Organisations must also have the processes and systems in place to act on this information as rapidly as the customer expects.

Agencies have been doing their own versions of crowdsourcing for decades by, for example, scouring colleges for fresh talent and ideas with graduate schemes. When appropriate direction is given, such initiatives can generate innovative and bountiful ideas.